[b]Ranch House, Unknown Location[/b]

Mina lowered her hand from the door frame  and fished in another pocket for a small, white box that rattled when she withdrew it. She moved to stand near Drake and offered a thin green tablet. It was a common pill- The Erubescan equivalent of an aspirin, intended as a sublingual for quicker results. It was also worth almost as much as petrol, out here. [color=#C4B14D]"It'll help with the pain. Pop it under your tongue,"[/color] Mina explained, and placed it on the table beside him. [color=#C4B14D]"It won't make you groggy,"[/color] she added as an afterthought, aware of how the boy had previously reacted to being offered strong painkillers. 

After tucking the box safely back in her pocket, she placed a hand on Drake's shoulder. [color=#C4B14D]"He showed up a few weeks ago, looking for Helena. Wearing a uniform- Toby and Dawn sensed him pretty far out, and we um..."[/color] She shook her head, and gave Drake's shoulder a soft squeeze. Drake's recollection of meeting Larke made her chest ache- That was the Larke she had known; all stupid and heroic and taking on more than he could handle like an idiot. That wasn't whoever was in the attic.

[color=#C4B14D]"We didn't know who he was, that far out. But we knew he was coming to hurt us, and that he wouldn't die, so... We had to shoot him down. And after he woke up, he put up a helluva... He came to before we had a chance to finish searching him, and he had a knife on him we'd missed. I was resetting a broken bone on him, and he just turned on me like that- So I shocked him, and now..."[/color] 

Her gut tightened up, and she stepped back toward the door. [color=#C4B14D]"We can't let him go, because he knows too much. And we can't kill him- [i]I[/i] can't. But Montana shattered one of his wings so he couldn't make a break for it. And Spire... Spire got out of line a few days ago..."[/color] She cringed at the mention of the incident, but it needed to be clear that the condition Larke was in was not the result of a group decision. There was probably some answer to all of this, but all of them seemed to end with somebody dying. 

[color=#C4B14D]"It's a bad spot, Sugar."[/color] She nodded down the hall, inviting him to follow with a wave. [color=#C4B14D]"Because I don't wanna see him a prisoner. And it would kill me to see him dead. But... We can't release him. It's him, or Helena and everyone else here. And I- I'll just let you look at him for yourself. I have to change his bandages."[/color]